We’ve written plenty on how the professional world has changed since COVID-19. All industries experienced one significant change or another, and it can be argued that the IT sector was affected more than any other due to the many industries it supports. The IT landscape has witnessed vast shifts in workplace environments, devices, technology needs, and application hosting. This massive amount of change in a short period of time has made it challenging for IT personnel and organizations to stay up to date on evolving technology needs and issues.
Enter Network as a Service (NaaS). This solution is surging in popularity as it offers a flexible way for enterprises to keep pace with innovation, meet business needs, optimize network performance, and improve user experience. In our latest blog article, I identify and discuss the key attributes driving NaaS adoption and how it can help your enterprise succeed.
Top Reasons To Adopt NaaS…Now
The as-a-Service model has gained steam in recent years as more and more IT leaders have grown more comfortable with subscription-based managed services. My WEI colleague, Greg LaBrie, recently published a wonderful article on this consumption model trend.
Does anyone remember the days of signing out a company laptop for those weekend projects? Some of us sure do. Remember, enterprises traditionally invested significant resources to IT specialists who designed, built, and operated their networking infrastructure. Employees regularly connected to networks in-house with devices owned by their enterprise. Hardware had to be procured, pre-staged, cabled, installed, and configured. Unfortunately, this model required vast amounts of financial resources to set up and maintain. Not only that, but it also made it difficult to stay up to date with the dynamic needs of technology and the business environment.
Enterprise networks have clearly evolved. Gartner estimates that in 2022 alone, worldwide annual network spending will increase 6.7% to $79.04 billion. Company budgets, however, are not limitless. There is a growing need for businesses to invest their money thoughtfully and strategically. The adoption of NaaS is one way to meet both the technological and financial needs of companies today. The following are the top reasons to adopt NaaS now.
- Changes In Workplace Environments And Devices. Even before the pandemic, laptops and mobile devices allowed users to access enterprise applications outside the office on non-enterprise networks. When workplaces were forced to adapt to work-from-home policies due to COVID, more flexible, agile models were needed.
- Evolving Technology. As a result of the shift in workplace and device usage, the way we connect to on-premises networks has evolved. The introduction of cellular, WAN, and SD-WAN solutions and constant innovation in technologies like 5G and Wi-Fi 6E have made it challenging to adequately keep pace. Equipment becomes outdated more quickly, and new technology requires trained personnel.
- Application Hosting. The development and adoption of SaaS removed the need to connect users with physical in-house devices to centralized applications within a data center. Web-based applications now enable access anytime and anywhere and ensure connectivity for the edge is a top priority.
- Hybrid Work Model. The pandemic instituted a remote work model that only a small percentage of knowledge workers had consistently experienced. And while the opportunities for people to work exclusively from home are decreasing, the hybrid model remains abundant. COVID changed the ways IT staff must plan and procure their networks. As remote work and access have continued, network priorities have shifted. Organizations are now looking to preserve cash, and large capital investments for strategic planning have largely been put on hold.
The Benefits Of NaaS
NaaS enables organizations to keep pace with innovation, meet rapidly changing business needs, and optimize network performance and user experience through a cloud-like subscription model. Further benefits of NaaS include:
- Financing Flexibility: NaaS offers a critical alternative to upfront capital expenditures (capex) with a usage-based model (opex). This allows organizations to address their business needs in a way that makes sense for them.
- Enhanced Security: The fast deployment of new features and functions enhances security and lowers operational risk. Enterprises can launch their services and capabilities faster, while keeping their organizations safe from security vulnerabilities caused by out-of-date requirements or configurations.
- Proactive Management: Risks are mitigated with proactive advisory and management capabilities. These capabilities include AIOps driven insights or highly skilled networking experts to ensure deployment of the latest product features, functions, or configurations.
- Scalable Centralized Management: NaaS cloud management capabilities enable organizations to scale networks easily. Added managed services can be implemented to oversee all network operations.
- Sustainability: NaaS helps alleviate security and cost-related fears associated with old hardware resources. The repurposing and proper disposal of equipment is important, but costly. Sustainable reuse and retirement are key attributes of a NaaS offering. This allows organizations to meet sustainability goals more easily.
NaaS With HPE Greenlake
HPE Aruba Networking's NaaS, through HPE Greenlake, has reinvented network infrastructures by creating a simplified plug-and-play experience. It removes the heavy burden of long-term planning and budgeting by delivering necessary hardware, software, and services in a single, seamless monthly subscription package. Key benefits include:
- NaaS can be implemented on whatever scale enterprises feel comfortable with, and they can scale up when needed.
- On-premises and hybrid networks are managed through a self-service portal.
- Provides real-time data and security analytics, enabling a proactive approach where issues are identified and dealt with before they become disruptive.
- Aligning your budgets with network usage gives management insights to make strategic decisions.
- New businesses and startups can avoid costly capital expenditures and avoid the cost of supporting legacy infrastructure.
NaaS delivers network deployment, management, security, and performance while remaining agile, flexible and cost-effective. Contact WEI today to learn more about how HPE Aruba Networking NaaS with HPE Greenlake can take your network performance to the next level.
Next Steps: See why enterprises are catching on to the latest “as-a-Service” trend in our fresh whitepaper titled, “Why NaaS is the Next Big Thing and Why You Need It.”
